If you looked up at the skies last night you may have seen something rather special - a rare glimpse of the Northern Lights.

This spectacular picture of the green lights by the MEN's Andrew Stuart shows the Aurora Borealis over Blackstone Edge in Littleborough.

Other shots have been sent into us from Flixton, from the summit of the M62 and from Wigan.

Light pollution made it difficult to spot from around the city centre.

The lights were spotted across England, with skies as far south as Gloucestershire, Essex and Norfolk being lit up as the result of a strong magnetic storm.

The Northern Lights are usually visible in only the more northern parts of the UK, but a surge in geomagnetic activity last night led to them appearing much further south than usual.

The display occurs when explosions on the surface of the Sun hurl huge amounts of charged particles into space, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Those thrown towards Earth are captured by its magnetic field and guided towards the geomagnetic polar regions. Charged particles collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere, and the subsequent energy is given off as light.

Geomagnetic storms follow an 11-year "solar cycle", and the last "solar maximum" was last year, according to the BGS.

Did you see the Northern Lights? If so we'd love to see them.

Send them to website@men-news.co.uk with where you took it from and your name, and we may feature the best.